Immortal Brotherhood
by Alex-the-Undying
Summary: Two years after Knives's capture and escape. Things have been relatively peaceful, until now.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, or any of its characters, and I do not own any characters that any of my characters may resemble in name, description, or behavior.

Chapter 1: Alex

As the second sun broke the skyline, a lone figure appeared on the horizon near a town. Another figure stood in that town. This one had blonde spiky hair, and was clad in a red jacket, sunglasses with round, yellow lenses, dark brown boots with a lot of buckles, black gloves, and a brown left sleeve that looked similar to his boots. He stood in front of a building with a sign on it that said 'December Orphanage' in black block letters. He watched this new figure ride towards town.

When the figure in the desert approached near enough, he saw that it was a man, wearing a brown overcoat, with a blue and yellow jumpsuit underneath, a brown cowboy hat with a light blue ribbon, and a large duffel bag of some sort strapped to his back. The man was riding a blue motorcycle of some sort, the likes of which the observer had never seen.

The observer shouted, "Meryl, there's somebody riding towards us, on a motorcycle, I'm going to go check it out."

A voice coming from inside the orphanage, presumably Meryl, shouted, "Fine, Vash, and do whatever you want. Just be back by breakfast."

Vash shouted back, "Thanks, Meryl," and jumped into his car. It looked ordinary enough, a green and brown, boxy exterior, with a collapsible roof, two rows of seats, and two doors. The car was unusual because it could go for thousands of iles without being refilled, and it could reach top speeds of up to 50 iles per hour (iph).

He drove down to where the motorcyclist was, turned around, and drove next to him, saying "Nice bike, where'd you get it?"

The cyclist responded, "Made it myself. Thanks for the compliment." He paused for a few seconds before continuing, "Is that city December?"

Vash responded, "Yeah, it is. There isn't anything much there. Why'd you want to go there?"

The response was, "I'm looking for somebody."

Vash then inquired, "Who?"

The cyclist said, "A guy who goes by the name of Vash the Stampede."

Vash said, "You don't look like a bounty hunter. I can't think of anybody else who would want to find that guy."

The cyclist said, "My name's Alex. The bounty has been void for over two years. Why would anybody still be after you for that?"

Vash then responded, "Well, Alex, I'm the guy you're looking for. You'd be surprised how slow some news travels."

Alex, after a slight pause, said, "Then could you give me a ride in? I'm running out of gas, and I'd rather not drag this all the way to town."

Vash said, in response, "Sure, I'm sure my friends would _love_ to meet you."

Several minutes later, Vash and Alex were unpacking the motorcycle from the back of the car, as a short girl with dark hair, wearing a white shirt, blue tights, white boots, and a white cape, walked out of the orphanage, with a plate of pancakes and a glass of water in her hands. "Who's he?" she asked.

Vash immediately followed, and once he found her, cowering under the kitchen table, asked "He's the guy I told you about earlier."

"Oh, he looks kind of strange."

Vash, trying to calm Meryl down, said "I didn't notice anything strange about him."

"There's something wrong with his eyes, and I've never seen hair that color before."

Alex was leaning against the house, holding his hat in his hand, with the duffel bag on the ground next to him. This was the first time that Vash saw what made Meryl was talking about. The man had pale skin, and blue-white, shoulder-length hair, tied in a ponytail. Also, his eyes were odd compared to the rest of his face, almost almond-shaped as opposed to the usual human shape. He realized that he hadn't noticed it before; because Alex had his hair tucked under his trench-coat's collar during the drive, and had his hat low over his face.

Introductions went smoothly, as Millie was, as always, immediately friendly, and the kids followed suit, trusting anybody that Vash or Millie would trust.

A few weeks passed, and Millie started to become agitated. Alex didn't understand what was going on, so he asked Vash, "What's going on with Millie? She doesn't seem to be acting like she normally does."

Vash responded, "Next week is the 2nd anniversary of the day that Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the founder of this orphanage, died. He was my best friend, but he and Millie seemed to have a deeper connection. She always seems depressed at around this time of year, but after our annual trip to the grave, she seems to get better."

The next day, the road trip started, Vash drove, Meryl sitting shotgun, with Meryl and Alex in the back seat, with Alex's motorcycle, as well as another, less sophisticated one, strapped to the back.

On the way, Alex whispered to Vash, "Where are we going? Wasn't Wolfwood buried back in December?"

Vash whispered back, "We weren't close enough to December to bury him there when he was killed. He was buried in the remains of Sky City, and that's where we're going."

Alex's only response was, "Ah…."

I've redone this chapter, since I changed some ideas for the background of Alex, as well as the opening scene.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, or any of its characters, and I do not own any characters that any of my characters may resemble in name, description, or behavior.

Chapter 2: The Journey

A large vehicle moved through the empty dune. The vehicle could be easily described as odd. It mainly consisted of a large brown, well, train engine. The increase in size allowed the blue class sand steamer to hold up to 600 passengers as well as the 40-person crew, comfortably. It was now pulling into the city of November, one of the larger cities left.

_NOTE: In my version of this world, the cities with month names spiral around, with January in the center and December on the outermost edge. Each month city is closest to the two cities whose names are neighboring months. For example, February is closest to January and March. March is closest to February and April, etc. The rest of the cities are off the spiral, close to one month city or another._

A week after their trip started, in November, the local doughnut shop was getting half its annual income. Vash was waiting patiently for the shopkeeper to come out of the building with his 20 dozen doughnuts, while Alex was walking around the city, looking for a restaurant that served breakfast this close to noon. Meryl and Millie were both in the transportation office, attempting to get their car, as well as Alex's motorcycle, allowed as cargo on the sand steamer they were taking to Sky City.

"Sir, do you know what time it is?" the restaurant owner asked Alex, astonished.

"Yes, and I know that if I'd asked an hour ago, you would have said 'of course,'" was Alex's calm reply.

"You know as well as I do that at this point, we can't ask the chefs to make a breakfast meal, they've already converted the kitchen for lunch!" said the restaurant owner, exasperated.

"All I want is an omelet. I don't think that's too much trouble for them," Alex, beginning to get annoyed, replied.

"All right, we can allow that. There are people who like omelets for lunch anyway."

"Thanks. I'd like a reservation for four, in ten minutes."

"You are quite welcome, sir. May I have your name, please?"

"Put the reservation under Alex."

Alex exited the restaurant, and nearly ran Vash down. With a nod of apology, Vash and Alex began to head for the transportation office, hoping that Meryl and Millie would have been done convincing the attendant to allow them to store their vehicles as cargo on their trip.

"I'm sorry for the hassle. I just wasn't sure that a single group was allowed that much weight in luggage. The regulations are confusing at times," said the sand steamer attendant, obviously afraid, but trying her best to hide it.

"That's about time. I was supposed to meet the rest of my group ten minutes ago, but I had to make sure that our luggage would go with us on the trip," shouted Meryl.

"I understand ma'am, it's just that I had to check with my supervisor to make sure it was alright. I don't get these kinds of requests every day."

"Thanks. But don't let it happen again." At this point, Meryl grabbed her baggage check, and stormed out, quickly followed by Millie.

Once they exited the building, Vash greeted them "Hi. Hope you didn't scare her too much. I'd hate to not be allowed on the steamer because my traveling companion traumatized the attendant."

Meryl, obviously not in the mood, replied "Very funny, Vash."

Attempting to change the subject, Alex said "I got us lunch reservations; they're for right now, so we should probably go get there before they give away our seats."

Vash, oblivious to the mountain of doughnuts he was consuming, said "That sounds great. Let's go!"

After that was done with, the sand steamer was ready to be boarded. Vash and Alex reported to the guard's station to pay for their rides, while Meryl and Millie went to the concession's stand to pay for theirs.

A few days into the trip, Vash and Alex were put on half duty, as it seemed that the entire planet was seeing a drop in crime.

One day, when they were both off duty, Vash commented, "It seems quiet. Maybe too quiet."

Alex's response to that was a quick chuckle and, "Never say anything like that. That always changes your luck."

"Well I'm bored out of my skull! Anything would be an improvement."

"I can't argue with you there, but we'll probably be regretting it sooner or later."

"I don't doubt it. So, how much longer till we reach June?"

"Probably two weeks. Plenty of time for something to happen."

It didn't.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, or any of its characters, and I do not own any characters that any of my characters may resemble in name, description, or behavior.

Chapter 3: He Who Can Raise the Dead

"A little to the left … No, a little back right … No, you had it better before … Perfect, now lower it." Alex instructed to the crew assigned to unloading their transportation from the steamer.

"Are you sure that it matters this much where the car is lowered?" Vash asked, confused at the large amount of commotion being made over his car.

"Slower … Slower … Oh, yeah, I'm sure. I don't want to need to repair the car in the middle of the desert. It's hard enough to fix a car without having to worry about dehydration. NO! WAY TOO FAST! SLOW DOWN!"

"If you're sure about this, I'll leave you to it."

"There. It's done. Now for my bike. It shouldn't be too hard, should it?"

A couple of hours later, Alex had driven both Vash's car, and his motorcycle, next to the hotel which they were going to spend the night. As he got off the motorcycle, a gunfight broke out across the street; one local gang appeared to have infringed upon the territory of another. Suddenly, nobody in either group had guns anymore, yet there were a few people gravely injured.

An old man inside the café the gunfight broke out in front of walked out, put his bag down next to one of the people who was shot, opened it, and took out a bottle of silvery liquid. He poured it into each bullet wound inside the gangster, and then moved on to the next one. Once he was done with all of them, he went back into the café, and all of the wounded gangsters started to get up, apparently unharmed, just extremely confused.

Vash walked outside, having been looking out of the window of his hotel room before. "That's odd. I've never seen people recover from such severe wounds before. I'd like to know how he did that."

Alex, oblivious, muttered "I know that flask. I know that elixir. I know that man. How is he still alive?" He then walked into the café. Vash followed, curious.

"Hey doc. Long time no see, eh?" said Alex, amiably.

"Oh, it's you. I wondered when I'd be seeing you again," said the aforementioned 'doc.' "How long has it been? Twenty, thirty years?"

"It's been longer than that, I can assure you."

"I know that, I just don't want to alarm the rest of the guests here at this fine establishment."

"How long do I have to stand here before you introduce me to your friend, Alex?" asked Vash, extremely annoyed and impatient.

"Oh, sorry, didn't notice you there," apologized Alex. "This is a friend of mine, Dr. Aesculapius. He's the best doctor I've ever seen. It's even rumored that he can raise the dead with his medicines."

"Oh, I've never done _that_ much," replied Aesculapius. "I usually constrain my patients to those still breathing. Who's the broom-head next to you?"

"I'm Vash. Vash the Stampede. Don't worry; I'm not half as bad as rumors say I am. I've only destroyed two cities, and nobody died."

"It's been nice seeing you again, W have to go now. We're on a trip, and we have to get ready to leave first thing in the morning," said Alex, in an attempt to calm down the clientele of the café.

"Where are you leaving to? I've been looking for a ride to Sky City, to meet up with a friend of mine?" asked Aesculapius.

"What a coincidence, we're headed to Sky City too," replied Vash. "I bet we can spare an extra seat. I doubt it's that far."

The group went back to the hotel, where Meryl and Millie were lying down in their room, attempting to get some rest after standing by a concessions stand for twenty-four hours straight. Alex went down to the reception desk, and rented another room for Aesculapius. He then went upstairs, and the guys followed the girls' example, and passed out on the beds.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, or any of its characters, and I do not own any characters that any of my characters may resemble in name, description, or behavior.

Chapter 4: Graveyard

Sitting, in the middle of nowhere, inside of a rather large crater, was a ship. Or, more accurately, what used to be a ship. The overall shape of the ex-ship is that of a metal teardrop, sitting nearly perpendicular with the ground. There were gaping holes in the hull, and pieces of metal seemed to be falling off everywhere. It was a good thing that the people of the city no longer lived in the ship, but rather, in a small settlement around the base.

From where they were standing, on a 'gondola' platform attached to the mid-section of the crashed ship, Vash, Alex, Meryl, Millie, and Aesculapius had an excellent view of the old ship, and could make out the remains of one word, "SEEDS" painted on its side.

An eerie quiet had fallen over the platform, broken only by the rhythmic squeak of the platform on the wire, and the equally rhythmic scrape of Vash's mechanical arm, as he scratched his back. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Vash said "I really need to get my arm replaced. It's been starting to squeak recently, and I no longer need a gun in it. It's really lucky that it started to break down now, since we're right here."

After a couple of minutes, Aesculapius responded, quietly, "Why don't you let me give you back a natural arm? I'm sure that won't be nearly as uncomfortable as that artificial one you've got now."

"You sure you can regenerate mine? I'm not human, you know."

"I know, I've tested this solution on various types of plant and animal life, and it has worked on all of them."

"Sure. A gun-arm has proven useful in the past, but I don't think I'll need it now, since I have both of these." Vash drew both of the long colts, his silver one in his right hand, and Knives's black one in his left hand. After a couple of seconds, he quietly returned them to their holsters.

"Then it's settled. I'll aid you in the process, once we get out of the suns and somewhere stable."

Another hour passed without event, and the group finally reached the ship. Once the moving platform stopped, the group stepped onto a stationary platform, in a small depression in the hull of the ship, possibly where there used to be a brig or crew quarters. There was a large door standing in front of them

Vash walked up to the door, knocked three times, and said "It's us; we're here for our yearly visit."

A few minutes later, the door opened, and a kindly old man walked out. "Hello, you're earlier than usual. It must have been quieter than normal on the way here."

"You can say that again," Alex, trying to be nice, piped in. "Hi, I'm Alex. I've been traveling with them for a few weeks now."

"Well, hello. I would like to welcome you, for the first time, to Sky City." Doc said, with a dramatic wave of his arms. "Oh, and I remember you. Welcome back Dr. Aesculapius."

"I'm glad to be back. Actually, Vash and I will need a room for the next two days, I'm going to heal his arm," he replied.

Two days later, Vash and Aesculapius walked out of the room, Vash now having an organic left arm, to match his right. The process had, luckily, finished just in time for Millie's annual anniversary ceremony. The two rushed out of the hospital building they were in, to the graveyard, a ways away from the ship.

The graveyard was simple; it was a large plot of land, with a simple grave marker every six feet or so, usually a cross, but sometimes a six-pointed star, sometimes a five-pointed star, and sometimes a circle. There was one distinct grave, though. This one had a six-foot tall, metal cross weapon as its marker, and was slightly removed from the rest of the graves. And it had been exhumed.

Millie was standing, shocked, about ten yarz from the casket (Wolfwood was given a full religious burial, complete with a casket to hold his body. Usually, people are just buried, with no casket), staring at the tall, surprisingly pale, black-haired man dressed in a priest's outfit, who was standing right next to the coffin. Just as Vash and Aesculapius arrived, he started speaking.

"I've just come here to pay my respects to my predecessor. I regret that I did not go to his funeral, so I thought that I would give him another one." He stepped closer to the casket, revealing another giant metal cross, much like the one marking the open grave.

"Just who _are_ you?" Millie nearly cried.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I am Renatas. Renatas the Reborn. I am here to complete the task that Nicholas D. Wolfwood began," Renatas announced, almost evangelically. "I am him _reborn_!"

Meryl rushed over to Millie, just as Millie broke out into tears. Meryl attempted to comfort Millie silently, not knowing what to say.

Meanwhile, Aesculapius had snuck over to the side of the coffin, and was rustling through his medicine bag, looking for something. Also, Alex had laid his duffel bag down, and opened it.

Vash, on the other hand, knew exactly what he wanted to say, "Nick never talked like that. How can you say that you are him?"

Renatas backed up, picked up his weapon, and walked towards Vash. He then stated flatly, "Because, Tongari, I remember everything." Vash backed up two steps, and reached for his gun.

Millie then stood up, ran towards Renatas, and punched him, as hard as she could, in the side of the head. A gun fired, and a bullet flew from the pocket he had his right hand in, towards Wolfwood's coffin.

Aesculapius had just poured a golden solution into the bullet wounds in Wolfwood's chest, and into his mouth, when the bullet penetrated his side. He fell into the open grave, dead.

Alex reached into his bag, and drew a rapier. Vash drew his long colts, and both pointed their weapons at Renatas, who moved his cross punisher in the way of both people's weapons, and aiming one of the missile launchers at Vash.

Suddenly, a hand reached out of the open coffin, and grabbed the cross marking Wolfwood's grave. It lifted the cross punisher up, and brought with it a head and torso, Wolfwood's. The machine gun barrel opened, and pointed at Renatas. Nicholas then said "Nobody aims a weapon at Vash while I'm around."

Renatas, at that point, backed away slowly. He said "This will not be the last time you see me!" and ran.

Please R&R, I'm not happy with how this chapter turned out.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, or any of its characters, and I do not own any characters that any of my characters may resemble in name, description, or behavior.

Chapter 5: Interlude

In one of the hallways in Sky City, there was sobbing coming from two rooms. In one, Millie was crying loudly, albeit happily at Wolfwood's resurrection. Nick, himself, was sitting on one side of the bed, hugging Millie, who was sitting next to him, leaning over to be nearly in his lap, crying on his shirt.

Across the hall, on the other hand, Alex and Vash were standing respectfully over an open casket. Within that casket, was the blood and chemical stained body of Aesculapius. Both onlookers were allowing tears to flow freely from their eyes, but neither was making any noise whatsoever. Finally, after a few minutes, the two of them hoisted the casket, and carried out of the room.

Wolfwood and Millie heard Alex and Vash leave the room, and went out to join them. Finally, a few rooms later, they picked up Meryl, and the five of them walked along to the open grave, which had been occupied by Wolfwood until two days previous.

Once there, they put the coffin into the open grave, now marked by a white wooden cross, and Wolfwood started the funeral services.

One week later, everyone entered the car, and started to drive back to June, to catch the next stand steamer back to November.

As if on cue, the car broke down when they were exactly halfway between Sky City and June.

"What's going on, Vash? Why aren't we moving?" Meryl shouted, obviously shaken and irritated.

"I don't know. Something broke. I'll see what it is," Vash responded, equally shaken and irritated.

"Maybe I should take a look too. I've always been better at these kinds of things than you," Wolfwood added, much calmer.

Several hours pass, and no conclusion is reached as to what's wrong with the car.

Millie looks up from the hood of the car, and sees that Alex's bike is gone, and sees a line from the back of the car, leading eastward. "Hey, I think that you should look up. Alex's gone."

Wolfwood's initial response was "This is great, just great. How did you know that you could trust him in the first place? In fact, who is he anyway?"

Vash then said, "His name is Alex, and we met him just before we left for the anniversary of your death. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be alive again now!"

Wolfwood's response was, "How am I alive again?"

"Alex's friend, Aesculapius, gave you some medicine, I'm not sure what, but it brought you back from the dead. If Alex wasn't with us, Aesculapius would never have come with us, and you would not be alive again!"

"How did you know that you could trust him, needle-noggin? What it seems to me is that a coincidence allowed me to come back, Alex really didn't do anything!"

"He hasn't given me a reason to distrust him!"

"I didn't give you any reason to distrust me, but until the end, I was working for Knives!"

That moment, Alex rode back, and everybody quieted. Alex spoke up, "Hey guys, there's a town over that way," he pointed east, "only about 2 mi—iles, and it seems to be populated. There is a chance that there is someone who could repair the car there. Oh, and sorry about disappearing on you, while you were in deep discussion about what's wrong with the car, I decided that it would be a good idea to get help, and I didn't think that interrupting your intense work would have been advisable."


End file.
